There is a very interesting game being played out in halls of power in Jerusalem, and the key player is Benjamin Netanyahu.
Bibi is up to something, and I’m not sure what it is.
Is he getting ready to bomb Iran?
Is he trying to turn the tables on the religious parties that have been blackmailing the Israeli government for decades?
Is he preparing an offensive in Gaza?
Has there been a breakthrough in negotiations with the Palestinians?
Why else would Netanyahu put together the largest coalition government in the history of the State of Israel?
With storm clouds forming over our Fall calendar, I’m more than prepared to see the worst.
Whatever it is, something’s up, and I am certain that Netanyahu is up to something.
Knesset approves coalition accord, Mofaz sworn in as deputy PM
Labor’s Ben-Eliezer tells Kadima leader, ‘You sold your soul to the devil,’ then asks to retract reference to the devil
By Aaron Kalman, May 9, 2012, Times of Israel
The Knesset voted 71-23 on Wednesday afternoon to add Kadima leader Shaul Mofaz to the government as a minister without portfolio and deputy prime minister.
The vote also represented approval of the agreement that swells Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition to 94 of the 120 Knesset members with the addition of Mofaz’s 28-strong Kadima party.
Mofaz, who will take on Netanyahu’s duties when the premier is abroad, was immediately sworn into office.
Earlier Wednesday, the Knesset announced that Labor Party head Shelly Yachimovich was the new opposition leader.
Mofaz “sold his soul to the devil,” Labor MK Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said Wednesday during the turbulent debate on the unity government that preceded the vote. Later, he asked that the use of “the devil” be removed from the Knesset protocol.
The long session was interrupted to settle a legal question, after MK Isaac Herzog (Labor) asked the government to disclose any “secret agreements” reached by the new coalition partners. Any agreement that would influence the government must be disclosed to the legislators prior to such a vote.
Netanyahu answered carefully that the deal being voted upon was “the only one signed,” causing an uproar during which the government consulted with the Knesset’s legal adviser.
After a 10-minute discussion, Netanyahu said again there were no signed agreements beside the one brought before the Knesset. Opposition lawmaker Uri Ariel promptly asked whether there were any verbal agreements, and following the legal adviser’s confirmation that verbal agreements had legal significance, the session was stopped again. Netanyahu returned to say that there had been discussions but no further agreements, and that any agreement that required Knesset approval would be brought to the Knesset.
Read the rest of the article here.
